A Different Perspective of Electronic Games

GoldieBlox took us on a spinning machine ride the past few weeks, and when it ended, some of us were left feeling more dizzy and confused than exhilarated. When GoldieBlox’s YouTube advertisement first came out I immediately wondered how these little pastel colored plastic toys made in China were going to help close the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Read more

In my last post (that was over a year ago!) I wrote that I would be switching gears to review “non-iOS non-kids non-learning games”. Well, sometimes life has things in store for us beyond what we plan. Instead of playing non-kids games, I went to work for Kidaptive who develops Leo’s Pad iPad appisodes for preschoolers. I had a fabulous time doing production and design work with Leo (the fictional character inspired by Leonardo DaVinci) and the Kidaptive crew. I left Kidaptive realizing how important characters and story are to children’s educational content, and also to me as a designer. Read more

I’m back! SIGGRAPH and summer travel kept me away from playing games. After this post I’m going to switch gears and start reviewing some non-iOS non-kids non-learning games. But, before changing things up I wanted to review Sid Read & Play because it was recently released and I wanted to see if there were any differences between it and the older iPad learning games I’ve been playing. Read more

I have been wanting to play a MMORPG, but I have a hard time getting into some of the fantasy elements of WoW. So, I thought I’d ease my way into the genre by starting with an MMO a little more my style – Club Penguin! The penguins are cute and inviting, which is perfect for kids ages 8 to tween, and me. While looks can be deceiving, I felt that my experience was what I expected, both affable and positive. Read more

When I read that Sesame Workshop partnered with IDEO to create some apps I was thrilled! I look to them as leaders in children’s educational media and human-centered design, respectively. And such, I expected big things from their partnership. To be fair, I haven’t played all of their apps, but I did play Rosita’s Jump Count and I was disappointed. Read more

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About Tina Plays Games

Tina reviews games in light of her research on visual perception and computer graphics and is working on increasing her n00b gamer skillz to something more legit. This blog focuses on Tina's perspective of games - in particular the game's graphics, interactive techniques, and user interface.